Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander

A miniature from the Tetraevangelia depicting the tsar and the royal family

The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander, Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander, or Four Gospels of Ivan Alexander (Bulgarian: Четвероевангелие на (цар) Иван Александър, transliterated as Chetveroevangelie na (tsar) Ivan Aleksandar) is an illuminated manuscript Gospel Book, written and illustrated in 1355–1356 for Tsar Ivan Alexander of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The manuscript is regarded as one of the most important manuscripts of medieval Bulgarian culture, and has been described as "the most celebrated work of art produced in Bulgaria before it fell to the Turks in 1393".[1]

The manuscript, now in the British Library (Add. MS 39627), contains the text of the Four Gospels illustrated with 366 miniatures and consists of 286 parchment folios, 33 by 24.3 cm in size, later paginated with pencil. The language of the text is variously described as Bulgarian,[2] Middle Bulgarian, Slavonic,[3] and Church Slavonic.[4]

  1. ^ McKendrick, 56
  2. ^ Dimitrova, 23
  3. ^ "British Library Manuscripts Catalogue entry". Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  4. ^ Milner-Gulland, 304